Parachute fails, man falls 3,000 meters....and survives

[Romani]

Video here

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/...0&in_a_source=

Skydiver's farewell: 'I'm dead ... bye!'

13.02.2007
By REBECCA DEVINE

Taupo skydiver Michael Holmes knows he should be dead - and his rescuers tend to agree.

The skydiver, who plunged more than 3600m when his parachute failed to open properly late last year, told Britain's Mail on Sunday "I should be dead, absolutely".

He told the newspaper he'd certainly given up hope and knew that even if he landed in the lake "the sensible part of me knew it wouldn't be all right - that I'd probably be knocked unconscious at best and drown".

Taupo rescue workers who were the first called to the scene on December 13 shared similar concerns when the call came in that Mr Holmes had landed in the Five Mile Bay recreational reserve.

St John area manager Graeme Harvey said last night's TV screening of the gut-wrenching plunge confirmed what a miracle it was that Mr Holmes survived.

His injuries were a collapsed lung and fractured ankle.

Mr Harvey, who was one of the first to reach the scene, said he was "still totally amazed" that Mr Holmes survived the huge fall.

"There was obviously something or someone looking over him."

Mr Harvey said watching the video of Mr Holmes' fall gave the paramedics who treated him an entirely new perspective.

"To see what he actually went through after we saw the end result, it's amazing."

Mr Harvey said that when the first reports came in a that skydiver had fallen without the parachute opening, people didn't know what to expect.

Mr Harvey said ambulance officers had seen people who had suffered more serious injuries falling off scaffolding or a roof.

Taupo-based Lion Foundation Rescue Helicopter pilot Dan Harcourt was last night watching with interest the video of the fall.

"When you get a call like that you wonder if they'll be dead or alive."

Mr Harcourt said it was remarkable to find Mr Holmes in such a relatively good condition.

"It was like he'd fallen off the back of a ute. It's amazing to see the video."

The story has prompted a media frenzy, with Mr Holmes reported to have been offered more than $43,000 for television rights to the video record of the moment when he tugged the ripcord and discovered his parachute would not open.

It shows frantic efforts to release the twisted parachute, as he spins so fast that movement is almost impossible and then his attempt to release his reserve parachute - and the horror as he realises that, too, has become entangled above him.

He and friend Jonathan King, who jumped from the same plane and also filmed the fall, are understood to be in the United States at the moment where they will appear on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

But the Department of Conservation, which is in charge of the recreational reserve where Mr Holmes landed, said it had no plans to cash in on the media hype by marking the site where Mr Holmes landed.

A spokesman said there had been no approaches to have any sort of plaque to signify the area. In his interview with the Mail, Mr Holmes said he didn't really have time to think as he plummeted to earth.

"Friends ask if I was scared but really I was just angry that I'd done everything exactly as I should and it hadn't worked.

"I was very focused on what I was doing and I remember everything. Nothing's a blur."

At an altitude of 550 feet (168m) - five-and-a-half seconds from the ground - the film shows Mr Holmes waving goodbye.

"I tried to think of something, the right thing to say for the camera. But I looked at the ground again and without thinking I just blurted out 'Oh s***, I'm dead ... Bye!"'

Mr Holmes estimated that he had reached terminal velocity of 193km/h during the freefall part of his flight, but that the drag of the parachute had reduced his impact speed to around 128km/h.

He missed the airport car park by less than 30m and instead landed in a blackberry patch which cushioned his fall just enough to save his life.

Mr Holmes was in Waikato Hospital for 11 days. He hopes to resume skydiving in April.


Best bit is when the second guy lands and runs over to his friend. The conversation goes like this.

FRIEND: Are you OK?

FALLEN MAN: ...no...

[Yank44]

That video is crazy. How the...?